Yard Goats began season barring peanuts, end with attendance records

The Yard Goats season began with controversy, the franchise declaring peanuts a banned substance.

There were angry letters and emails and voice mails. Team president Tim Restall saved some of them. The announcement in February gained national attention, as the Goats stood firm to allow kids with peanut allergies the chance to come out to Dunkin’ Donuts Park, altering the lyrics of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” to “buy me a hot dog and Yard Goats cap” as a nightly seventh inning reminder that the age-old ballpark staple was gone.

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“We always talk about this being everyone’s ballpark,” Restall said. “A lot of people don’t want their peanut rights taken away, but understanding that removing that one food item allows so many kids to come to the ballpark. This year, we did not win the best ballpark award from Ballpark Digest and someone had said that it was because we were peanut-free, and I said I would give that award up in a heartbeat to allow one kid to come to the ballpark that can’t come if we sell peanuts.”

For the record, the new ballpark in Amarillo, Texas, was named the top Double A venue in Ballpark Digest’s fan voting, unseating defending champ Hartford, but the Yard Goats didn’t suffer at the gate. After selling out their doubleheader against Harrisburg on Tuesday night, the franchise soared past the 400,000 mark for the season, and when the home schedule wraps up on Thursday, the Goats expect to sit atop the Eastern League in attendance, averaging 6,200 per game, if not in the standings, They expect to finish the home schedule with 27 sellouts in a row, a total of 51 sellouts among 67 dates, four more than last season and 10 more than 2017.

“It really says something to the fans,” Restall said. “Connecticut is coming out to support the team, having a great time at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, really enjoying it. We’re still climbing.”

On the field, the Yard Goats were eliminated from playoff contention this week, but will finish the season above .500. Rico Garcia, whose father grew up in Hartford, began the season pitching for the Goats, moved up to Triple A in July and was called up to the majors to pitch for the Rockies against the Red Sox on Tuesday night.

“You look at a guy like Rico Garcia, who is a late-round draft pick,” Yard Goats pitching coach Steve Merriman said on the radio pregame show, “put himself on the map because of how consistent he has been. He was that in Hartford in not even a complete half of a season. [In the majors] I want him to double down on who he is, trust who he is and what he’s done.”

The Yard Goats finished the season with a string of sellouts, including this game against Reading on Aug. 22 (Johnathon Henninger / Special to the Courant)

Garcia struck out 11 in home starts against Portland on April 30 and Trenton on June 4, two of the season highlights. Ashton Goudeau topped him with 12 strikeouts on June 5. Another highlight was a walk-off win over Portland on Tyler Nevin’s single May 30.

Phillip Diehl, acquired from the Yankees in a trade for Mike Tauchman, began the season in Hartford and became the first 2019 Yard Goat to reach the majors. Among 2018 Goats, Brendan Rodgers, Sam Hilliard and Peter Lambert made their major league debuts for Colorado this season. Developing players, of course, is the Yard Goats’ on-the-field priority.

“The players always talk about how they feed off the energy of this place,” said Jeff Dooley, the Goats’ radio play-by-play announcer. “To watch the guys kind of mature through the season, go through their early struggles and then figure things out, it’s cool.”

Dunkin’ Donuts Park hosted a number of high school and college games in 2019, and will next host UConn’s baseball alumni game on Sept. 22. Restall envisions more of that, and would like to find a way to offer the venue for a college conference tournament or NCAA regional in the future. During the offseason, they will have the golf event, “Links at the Yard,” Sept. 26-29, a brew fest (Oct. 19) and a cross-fit style fitness challenge (Nov. 9) to keep the building in use.

When the season ends, Restall and his staff will have their annual retreat and review the peanut-free summer of 2019.

“We’ll celebrate the year and look back on it and ways we can make that fan experience better,” Restall said, “and also acknowledge and celebrate all the victories that we had. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”